It isn’t that Breanna Stewart, my choice for the WNBA’s 2018 Most Valuable Player, has reached this level of excellence without significant competition for the award.

There’s a solid case to be made for Elena Delle Donne of the Washington Mystics. In many ways, Liz Cambage of the Dallas Wings is having the best individual season. Sylvia Fowles isn’t far from her 2017 MVP pace, and Candace Parker remains as dangerous as ever.

But the problem with voting for anyone else over Stewart is there’s just too much to her MVP case. There’s the statistical case. There’s the circumstantial case. There’s the strategic case. And there’s the intangible case, too.

Let’s take each in turn.

By the numbers, Stewart’s 2018 season has risen above the pack. Entering play on Friday, Stewart has accumulated 7.1 win shares in her first 32 games. Only Fowles (6.1) has reached six win shares, with Cambage third...